Five years a pope and still reforming the church

Francis' reforms are aimed at changing mentalities

Pope Francis has already set in motion significant changes, particularly with the church's finances but there is still much to do about the Curia's structure and sexual abuse.

"Making reforms in Rome is like cleaning the Egyptian Sphynx with a toothbrush," the 19th century Belgian prelate and Papal States statesman Xavier de Mérode used to say.

The phrase was taken up by Pope Francis when he addressed the Curia in December.

The pope — elected five years ago with a mission to reform the church and the Curia, an aspiration expressed by cardinals in meetings prior to the conclave — was emphasizing the magnitude of the task ahead, and drawing attention to the lack of support from those who were supposed to be helping him.

Is his revolution now well under way?

Exactly a month after his election, Francis set up the "C9" — a council of cardinals charged with supporting him in the government of the church and the reform of the Curia. Yet, while this council held its 23rd meeting last week, there is still no sign of the forthcoming publication of an apostolic constitution replacing Pastor Bonus, the text enacted in 1988 by John Paul II to govern the Curia.

"When you write a book, you always write the introduction last," explained C9's secretary, Marcello Semeraro, the bishop of Albano, a diocese near Rome — meaning the constitution will be drawn up once the forms have been completed.

In five years, a lot of work has already been done. Francis began by cleaning up the finances, where previous pontificates had a poor record. The Vatican is no longer a tax haven and the Institute for the Works of Religion, its bank, is no longer a money laundry. It has even taken legal action against those who abused it.

As for the budget, last week, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the coordinator of the Council for the Economy, spoke of "positive progress in the areas of presenting balance sheets, managing costs, and reducing the Holy See's deficit."

To improve efficiency, the costliest department, communications, has also been revamped with the creation of the Secretariat for Communications, the dicastery with most employees. Bishop Semeraro called it a test case for the reforms.

The upshot is that two dicasteries — for the laity, the family and life, and for integral human development — have brought together six former pontifical councils whose staff must now learn to work together, despite their different histories and ways of doing things.

Ever since the time of Pius X, the Curia has never stopped evolving, going from the administration of the Papal States to the government of a church which conflates itself less and less with the West.

"Paul VI, then John-Paul II, had already started to adapt the Curia to reality, and Francis is continuing that work," said Bishop Semeraro.

"So, even if Pastor Bonus stated that 'the dicasteries are legally equal to each other,' mentalities were still infused by the idea that congregations are more important than pontifical councils, and thus have more authority. By creating the dicasteries, Francis is trying to get rid of this this idea, always guided by the principle of better evangelization, a better missionary spirit."

More than anything, Francis' reforms are aimed at changing mentalities.

From the start of his papacy he has said that "the first reform must be that of attitudes."

Ever since, he has kept reminding the Curia of this, especially through his Christmas greetings. He has sometimes been quite forthright, at the risk of upsetting those who work for him.

In December, even though he warned against "traitors" and those who "let themselves be corrupted by ambition or vainglory," his speech was more polite. He remembered to congratulate "the overwhelming majority" of those who, in the Curia, "work with commendable commitment, fidelity, competence, dedication and even holiness."

For Francis knows he needs the Curia to succeed with a reform that goes beyond the walls of the Vatican.

In recent months, the C9 has concentrated on the question of "healthy decentralisation," focussing on redefining the role of episcopal conferences.

Other reforms under way involve giving bishops greater responsibility in the process of nullifying marriages, and the translation of liturgical texts.

The Curia's relationship with episcopal conferences is also set to change.

"Over the last five years I have been struck by meeting people who have a genuine ability to listen, a real humility" said Bishop Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, the secretary general of France's bishops' conference.

"We are no longer in a top-down relationship, but dealing with true servants who are concerned about finding what is best for the church."

Dumas added that the process had only just begun. "We still don't see very clearly how the episcopal conferences will have more clout."

But such is the reform sought by Francis — a continuous process, even if that already entails "reforming the reform."

For example, in February he went back on a decree that obliged the Curia's bishops to retire at 75, even though this would have deprived him of valuable expertise. A new motu proprio has injected some flexibility into the system. And the heads of the new dicasteries are already being asked to reflect on the effects of the reform, and to see what can be done better.

"Once when I found myself next to the pope at the C9 I saw him jot down in his small handwriting the following words: "what I mean by reform: movement," recalled

Bishop Semeraro, for whom we are at the heart of the pope's Ignatian spirituality: a dynamic of spiritual movement and of the necessary discernment.

There is still a lot left to do, with regard to the structure of the Curia (congregations have not yet been affected), supporting people, and the fight against sexual abuse.

Between the pope's desire for decentralisation, the need to control the inaction of some bishops and an overburdened Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (which has 1,800 dossiers in its in-tray), the question of sexual abuse is now the crux of reform.

In 2015, Francis spoke of a "short" papacy, "four or five years." We have got to that point.

But the pope has now set his sights on October's Synod on Young People, January's World Youth Day in Panama, and the Synod on the Pan-Amazon Region, slated for late 2019. So, he seems to see himself in place at least until then. Long-term reform will not yet be completed and he feels he will probably not see the end result.

He is also concerned with ensuring the process he is launching is sustainable. A new opportunity should arise at the end of June, when he will be able to create up to six new cardinal electors, bringing to 45 per cent the share of "his" cardinals in the college that will elect his successor.

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